KEY VERSE: – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. The commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts” (Deuteronomy 6:5-6)
Our key verse for this teaching series highlights the importance of being able to hold the word of the Lord securely in our hearts and live differently in response.
Throughout the span of the Old Testament, God used different ways of relating to His people to enable them to hold and live by His word.
Judges were appointed to hold in place and administer the details of God’s covenant with his people.
Kings were to protect the relationship God has with his people.
Priests were appointed to give the right example of holy living and to act as intermediaries between God and his people.
And prophets were tasked with speaking out the word of God in ways that ensured everyone understood it properly, responded to it appropriately, and allowed it to shape their lives.
These 4 roles are not to be seen as one being more superior to the others, but they are 4 different kinds of leadership that would help God’s people maintain the fullness of their relationship with Him.
I’ve always thought it a bit harsh to describe the 12 books at the end of the Old Testament as the “minor” prophets! That word could be understood as being of less importance than the writing of other prophets, but far from it. Just because these 12 books are shorter in length than the writings of other prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel or Jeremiah, doesn’t mean that they are any less significant in content or impact.
In the book “Prophets & Poets” (edited by Grace Emmerson), Michael Tunicliffe writes: “For the early Christians the coming of Jesus was a new and stupendous event, but not unheralded. The words of the prophets enabled them to make sense of the story – they ‘read’ the prophets in the light of Jesus’ life, and they interpreted that life through the sayings of the prophets” (p.19).
That will be our aim with this teaching series. As we spend time noticing how the 12 prophets at the end of the Old Testament experienced God, spoke out for Him, and encouraged those around them to respond to the word of the Lord, we will be reading these books in light of what we already know about Jesus. Be ready to go further than that, though, because it’s as we share an experience of God with the prophets that we’ll be challenged to consider how we need to respond to the word of the Lord in our own time.
Haggai. Whereas most of the other prophets had a very clear and blunt message of destruction and judgement, the message of Haggai is more about encouragement for the Lord’s people to get their priorities right. There is an element of rebuke included in that the house of the Lord was being neglected in favour of […]
Obadiah. The central message of Obadiah is a warning against living for ourselves, caught up in our own self-style security and protection. The message is focused on Edom’s confidence in themselves and the strategic location of their territory. They felt good about themselves and looked down on everyone else. Their self-seeking ways gave no space […]
Amos Chapters 1 to 5. The covenant people of God have been given the responsibility to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:5-6), but it’s clear from the message of Amos that what the Lord saw, did not match up with what He had in mind. Amos is tasked with addressing […]
Joel. Biblical scholars suggest that there is a parallel between the gospel parable of the prodigal son, and the message of Joel. In both, the main emphasis is one of turning back and knowing blessing. Joel 2:12-17 reflects this thought, and in the rest of chapter we have the Lord’s answer: protection (2:20-22, 27), restoration […]
Hosea 11 to 14. After a strong word at the start of Hosea about faithfulness and the sincerity of our love, these chapters focus on enabling God’s people to know His love and how to relate to Him. The language used is that of a parent to child, where love is offered freely, and those […]
Series Introduction – Throughout the span of the Old Testament, God used different ways of relating to His people to enable them to hold and live by His word. Judges were appointed to hold in place and administer the details of God’s covenant with His people. Kings were to protect the relationship God has with […]